Beate Clausdatter Bille

Beate Clausdatter Bille (Kågerød Kirke, Scania)

Beate Clausdatter Bille, her husband and family

Beate Clausdatter Bille (30 April 1526 – 18 October 1605) was a Danish noblewoman, a member of the royal court, Chief Lady-in-Waiting (Danish: Hofmesterinde, corresponding to Mistress of the Robes in the UK) to Queen Sophie from 1584 to 1592, the wife of statesman Otte Brahe, and a feudal fiefholder in her own right following the death of her husband. She succeeded her sister-in-law Inger Oxe, who held the office from 1572 to 1584, as chief lady-in-waiting to Queen Sophie. Beate Bille was the mother of astronomers Tycho Brahe and Sophia Brahe.

Biography

Born at Skarhult Castle into the powerful and ancient noble Bille family, at 18 years old she married Otte Brahe of Knutstorp Castle (Danish: Knudstrup borg), a member of the equally powerful noble Brahe family. Otte Brahe was a member of the Riksråd (Privy Council), as were two of their sons, Steen and Axel Brahe. Her husband held substantial fiefdoms. After his death in 1571, Beate Bille kept the fiefdom of Froste in Scania and Vissenbjerg Birk on Funen until 1575, and Rødinge fief in Scania until 1592.

Beate Bille occupied a prominent position in Danish society in the 16th century, as Hofmesterinde and because she and her husband both belonged to some of the country's most prominent noble families, and through her outstanding personality. She was also noted as a supporter of the arts.

She died at Lundegård in 1605 and is buried with her husband in Kågerød Kirke in Scania.

Her children included Steen Ottesen Brahe, as well as Tycho Brahe and Sophia Brahe.

Literature

• Danmarks Adels Aarbog VII, 1890 67.
• W. Mollerup og Fr. Meidell, Billeættens historie 1, 1893